Smart systems set up a platform for electricity meters and smartphones to dance together (Part 2)

Electricity meter application software

　　The meter application software is based on the Android platform and provides a user-friendly interface. It can communicate with the meter mainboard with built-in dual-interface EEPROM through NFC technology.

　　The dual-interface EEPROM built into the energy meter acts as an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag. The dual-interface EEPROM collects various important parameters from the meter, such as cumulative power consumption, maximum demand, average power factor, and anti-meter tampering information, and stores them in a designated storage location.

　　Figure 4: An NFC phone communicating with the dual-interface EEPROM in an electricity meter

　　Application software installation and startup

　　The meter application software is an .apk file and can be downloaded from Google Play. After downloading, install it on your Android phone. Note that the Android phone on which the software is installed must support NFC communication function.

　　Application Software

　　The application can be launched by selecting the application button from the main menu. The application also provides a helpful slide show. After the application is launched, it immediately starts searching for NFC tags. If there is no tag, the signal icon is red; if a tag is found, the signal icon turns green.

　　Figure 5: NFC tag not foundFigure

6: NFC tag found

　　Configuring the Electricity Meter

　　This menu allows the power company to enter the meter manufacturer, meter model, serial number, hardware version, firmware version, and place of origin, and save them to the dual-interface EEPROM via NFC. When the NFC phone is close to the NFC tag and the signal icon turns green, these configuration data will be saved to the designated unit of the dual-interface EEPROM.

　　Reading meter data

　　Downloading data from the meter to the smartphone is a highlight of this meter app, which allows users to download the monthly electricity consumption, number of meter tampering, and maximum electricity demand using this app.

　　To successfully download data from the meter, the user needs to hold the phone close to the EEPROM of the dual interface meter and then download the meter data through the application. Before starting the download, make sure the phone signal icon turns to solid red. When the data download is complete, the application provides different options for users to understand the electricity usage recorded by the meter, compare 6 months of electricity usage data and other information.

About Electricity Meter

　　Users can use this option to read the basic information of the meter at any time and view the meter manufacturer, origin, model, serial number, firmware version, and manufacturing date from their mobile phone.

　　Compare monthly electricity usage data

　　Comparing monthly electricity consumption data is a major feature of this application software. Graphics help users easily compare six months of electricity consumption data, and draw charts of six months' cumulative electricity consumption, maximum demand records, cumulative monthly electricity consumption, average power factor records, number of times the meter was tampered with by breaking the ground wire, number of times the meter was tampered with by reverse connection, number of times the meter was tampered with by breaking the neutral wire, and number of times the meter was tampered with by the meter box.

　　The charts of different power consumption data can be zoomed or moved horizontally to give everyone the best viewing experience. The following figure is a graph of power consumption data.

　　Figure 7: The maximum power demand bar chart displayed by the Android app

　　Additional Information

　　The application software also provides other information functions, such as text information of meter installation date, last maintenance date, meter calibration date, overcurrent date, power outage date and total accumulated electricity consumption.

　　Android smartphone electricity meter software is a very useful and convenient electricity meter solution, allowing users to view electricity meter data on their mobile phones within seconds. As more and more Android smartphones are launched on the market, more consumers will view the real-time data of electricity meters on their mobile phones through such application software and save it to the mobile phone memory.